Underlined is Commentary
Bold is Radio Calls
Italics is French
"And welcome to the first race of 2023 Formula One Season." David Croft's voice says through the tv speakers back in England. "We're in Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit."
The camera, which had been panning around the length of the track, swapped to the drivers who were dispersing from the national anthem which had been played minutes before. All 20 drivers made their way down the grid towards their teams and cars, sipping from water bottles and adjusting their sunglasses on their noses.
Francesca Lewis was caught by many of the cameras as she turned away from George Russell who she had been stood next to during the national anthem. Francesca lifts her sunglasses from her face, a small breeze blowing back against her hair whilst she shielded her eyes briefly with her hand to spot her car and make her way towards it through the crowd. Lowering her sunglasses back onto the bridge of her nose as she made her way over to the Red Bull in pole position and very quickly beginning to braid her hair back out of her face.
In the Lewis household in England, Celine, Richard, Samuel and his fiancé, Angela, Oliver and many other members of the Lewis family were all watching the cameras pan away from Francesca when she began to walk towards her car. The woman had been getting a lot of screen time in the pre-race show, with Martin Brundle managing to catch her for an interview after he'd ran into Jeremy Clarkson and with cameras focussing in on her whenever she was glimpsed throughout the crowds.
The tv screen displayed the starting grid, ticking through each row of drivers and displaying their fastest lap time up on the screen.
"And its a front row lock out for Red Bull," Crofty says when the graphic pops up. "Reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, is in second with his teammate, Francesca Lewis in P1."
Francesca couldn't help but laugh as she abandoned putting on her helmet to meet Max in the space between their cars for their usual teammate handshake they always did. The rest of the grid was getting into position and after linking their pinky fingers together, Francesca and Max rushed back to their cars to pull their helmets on and climb into the cockpit of their beloved cars.
"30 seconds, Fran, 30 seconds."
Francesca watched as all of her mechanics and engineers around her dispersed from their positions, leaving the cars and their roaring engines alone on the grid, encasing their drivers in their carbon fibre shells to keep them as safe as possible.
From the P1 position on the grid, Francesca's eyes watched the red starting lights like their was no tomorrow - even though they were only indicating the start of the formation lap, the woman wanted to get as much temperature into her tyres as she could.
The 20 cars all moved off rather in sync when the lights went out, travelling around the length of the circuit at an increasingly slow pace with everyone swerving from left to right to build the temperature they needed in their tyres. Being at the front of the pack, Francesca managed to back the grid up coming up to the final corner, so that she didn't have to sit on the grid for ages and lose all of the temperature in her tyres that she had gained.
There was nothing but silence on the grid - well, the only thing close to silence you will ever get during a formula one race - as the drivers stopped in their grid boxes and waited for the lights again.
"And here we are, a new race in a new season of Formula One!"
"And its lights out and away we go!"
Francesca's start was milliseconds faster than Max's and the Red Bull darted ahead of her teammate before Max had the chance to react.
"Francesca Lewis with a monster start! She leads out of the first corner whilst her teammate is to busy trying to defend from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc!"
"Good start, Fran. Max is 0.6 behind you."
"Yeah, okay."
As Max Verstappen defended from the Ferrari behind him, Francesca was trying to build up a decent gap between herself and her teammate. But with the domination of the Red Bull's aerodynamics, it wasn't long before Max had broken away from Charles and was hunting down his teammate with intense speed ready to kill.
The two Red Bull's crossed the line after the first lap 0.3 seconds apart from each other, the crowds were going wild with the action between the two teammates over the course of the next few laps.
From lap 2 to the lap 10, the two Red Bull's broke away from the rest of the group and left the squabbling midfield behind them. Although the action between the two cars was not something anybody wanted to miss, with Max making late lunges after the first DRS zone to take the lead and Francesca doing the same seconds later after the second DRS zone.
What surprised everyone, was the fact the two Aston Martin's - one driver of the two green cars who was also injured - were able to get into P3 and P4.
Francesca and Max were wheel to wheel after the second corner, rushing their way down the straight to the third corner of the circuit. Francesca was on the inside, knowing that if she got the move done she would have the better line down to the following corners and should be able to build an advantage.
It was lap 17 of the race by now and she just wanted to get in front and build the gap to Max.
But the Dutchman would not give in.
The tv cameras focussed in on the two Red Bull's as they approached the third corner. Francesca lunged down the inside of Max with some very skilful late breaking. She hit the apex first and had her front wheels just in front of Max's.
It was her corner.
But Max wasn't ready to give up his lead, and one of the most controversial moments of the season followed.
Francesca, who had just glanced in her mirrors moments earlier to see her teammates position, found herself reigning the car out of a sudden spin. The crowd and spectators across the world all gasped and held their breaths as they watched the car do two full 360 degree spins before coming to a stop and continuing on down the track after her teammate whom she had watched race ahead of her as she began to spin across the track.
For everyone watching from their homes throughout the world, they got hear the angry radio calls of Francesca Lewis - sparking a controversial opinion on the matter.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Francesca shouts. "THE IDIOT JUST TURNED IN ON ME!"
"We saw." Hugh's voice replies. "Max is now 2.3 seconds ahead."
"He should give that position back, Hugh. He didn't leave me the space."
"Understood Fran."
"Fucking dickhead."
"Francesca." The voice of Christian Horner comes through the radio. "Just focus on getting back close to Max, the stewards will decide what's the best course of action."
"Of course your siding with Max again, of fucking course." Francesca chuckles.
"I'm not siding with Max."
"Christian, get the fuck off my radio or I swear to god you will not have a driver for the next race."
"Understood." The team principals voice disappears.
Francesca, despite her anger, did manage to regain on Max. She spent two laps trying to get past the Red Bull but Max Verstappen was not giving up his position easily and it seemed that the stewards were quite happy with the way the attempted overtake had gone down four laps earlier because they did not make Max give the space back to Francesca.
Even with the Red Bull garage deciding Max had spun Francesca out on purpose, Christian Horner did not make his golden boy return the place and even stopped GP Lambiasse from telling Max to return the space.
Everyone watched the laps of the race tick down with Francesca still trailing on Max's back wing waiting for the moment to make her move. The race had been sheer chaos of pit stops, penalties for Esteban Ocon and the Red Bull teammate drama so many of the drivers were excited to get out of the cars and return to their hotel - even the Aston Martin teammates, who were higher in the current race standings than they had ever been before.
Although, just as Francesca was about to make her move on Max. The DNF of Charles Leclerc caused a yellow flag and safety car.
"How long does it take to get a fucking car off of the track?" Francesca questions.
"Safety car will be coming in this lap." Hugh replies.
"About fucking time."
After following behind the safety car for an ungodly amount of time, Francesca's tyres were still at optimum temperature and with the pressure of Fernando Alonso behind her, the second Max took off in front, Francesca was on his tail.
She could probably draw his back wing from memory with how long she'd been staring at it.
Having spent a majority of the race biding her time behind Max since he spun her around on the earlier laps. Francesca had finally had enough, with her frustration building over the edge and her desperation to get past her teammate and win the race, Francesca broke extremely late into the fourth corner and managed to dive down the inside of Max and take off into the distance.
It was a bold move, but Francesca knew what she was doing.
She was racing in a Red Bull for a reason after all...
"YES FRAN! GOOD JOB!" Hugh shouts down the radio.
"TAKE THAT MAX!" Francesca shouts back. "FUCK YESSSS!"
As the race came to a close, Max Verstappen had not managed to retake the position from his teammate.
The celebratory radio of Francesca Lewis was broadcasted out to the world as she did her cool down lap and returned the car to Parc Ferme. All of the Red Bull team had been lent over the catch fencing cheering loudly and were now rushing down or out of the garage to go and greet their driver at the Parc Ferme barriers.
Francesca, who was joined by Max in P2 and Fernando in P3, jumped out of the car as quick as she could and threw her arms up into the air as she stood on top of the halo. Screaming happily to herself, she jumped down onto the concrete and rushed for the team waiting at the front of the fence with Max in pursuit. But the shouts and cheers of the Red Bull team were drowned out by the Aston Martin team singing 'Oh Fernando Alonso'.
After hugging and high fiving with the team, Francesca and Max gave each other a quick hug and moved away to be weighed and head to the cool down room.
Francesca whipped her helmet and balaclava from her head as she walked into the cool down room, placing them down on the number 1 stand and swapping them for the water bottle which was there instead. She was quick to sit down and start removing her hair from the braids that it was pulled back into.
Max and Fernando walked in seconds later and that was when cameras in the room turned on and displayed the scenes to all. Francesca congratulated Fernando before seeing the battle between herself and Max which resulted in her spinning displayed on the tv. Max did not say anything as he watched the screen and Francesca turned to face him, but Fernando spoke.
"Did you turn in on her?" Fernando asks.
"I didn't know she was there." Max shrugs.
"Bullshit." Francesca mutters. "We were side by side."
"I didn't know you would make the move there." He shrugs again.
Francesca rolls her eyes and take her seat with Fernando following suit. Max sat down as well but was left out of the conversation between Francesca and Fernando because he was too busy glowering to himself regarding the win - or loss in his case.
The win that he lost of his own accord....
🏎️💨
"FRANCESCA CELINE LEWIS! YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING LEGEND!"
Francesca couldn't help but squeal in excitement when she was scooped up into the air and spun around by Pierre as he held her tightly in his arms.
They were stood in the middle of the paddock, many of the drivers who had not yet had the chance to congratulate the woman on her win were gathered around the duo.
Francesca had been unable to stop grinning since she had crossed the finish line earlier that afternoon and her cheeks hurt from the constant smile coating her lips. Her eyes were also still slightly bloodshot from the tears she had cried on the podium because no matter how many times she won races and kept adding those wins to her career history, the fact she was a woman representing France in the top team of Formula One at the moment would always be something she would never be able to get over,
"I'm so proud of you!" Pierre's voice was muffled by Francesca's shoulder as he spoke.
"Thank you." Francesca replies.
Feeing her feet hit the floor again, Francesca moved away from Pierre and turned to face the other drivers surrounding them. It was slightly later in the afternoon now, by the time drivers had been released from media duties, team debriefs and cooling down after the race.
"Have you spoken to Max?" Lando Norris asks as he pulls away from his hug with Francesca.
"Not really." Francesca shrugs, pulling her hair over her shoulders so it cascaded down her back.
"Did he take blame for the spin?" The Brit questions.
Francesca shakes her head at him before giving a wide smile to Lewis and accepting the hug he offered out for her.
"I'm surprised you didn't go storming into the stewards." Lewis mutters.
"I learnt very early on that storming into the stewards office doesn't do any good." Francesca replies. "Easier to be cool and calm than angry and loud."
The group of drivers all began to disperse after giving Francesca her congratulations. Pierre stayed behind as Charles answered a phone call and wondered off himself, after checking her own phone, she lifted her head only to smile when she noticed the stray driver lent against the wall behind him with his hands in his pockets and an eyebrow raised.
"Why are you grinning at your phone, Celine?" Pierre questions, smirking at her.
"No reason." Francesca shrugs, wiping the smile from her face.
"Mhm, really?"
"Yes really."
"You are a very bad liar, Celine."
"You are an awfully cheesy guy."
"How so?"
"Sending me stupid little comments whilst being stood next to me."
"I have no idea what your talking about."
"Mhm, really?"
Pierre rolls his eyes at the cheeky grin Francesca offered him. Both of their trainers were waiting for them at the entrance to the paddock so the two said their goodbyes and wandered over to their respective personal trainers.
Francesca fell backwards onto her bed when she finally reached her hotel room. Arms splayed above her head as she stared up to the ceiling with a huge smile coating her lips.
It was safe to say that Francesca had a night full of happy dreams about the race...
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As a Ferrari girl, writing this hurts me.
Also, I know that Christian isn't a bad person and the actions I write about him in this story is no way a reflection of him in real life.
But I need a bad guy to bring in ✨drama✨ and I don't like Christian Horner so I've picked him.
I have to fuel my need for drama somehow.